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Chapter 4
Early European Settlements
in Pennsylvania
L E S S O N 1 3
Key Questions
1. Which European countries
first started colonies inwhat is
now Pennsylvania?
2. Whywas there somuch
fighting for the land?
3. How did the English gain
control of this region?
4. What things did these early
settlers contribute?
KeyWords
conflict
colony
permanent
surrender
Key Places
NorthAmerica
Europe
England
Sweden
Holland
France
Spain
New York
Delaware Bay
Delaware River
Schuylkill River
Early European
Settlements
A
fter Columbus sailed to
North
America
, countries in
Europe
began to send ships to explore new
regions. The 1500s became known as the
Age of Exploration
.ManyEuropean countries
wanted to get riches from the “NewWorld,”
as they calledNorthAmerica. Explorers had
to sail across theAtlanticOcean.When they
reached a new part of North America, they
claimed the land for the country under
which they sailed.
Look at a map of Europe to find the
different countries that sent out explorers.
England
,
Sweden
,
Holland
(called
Dutch),
France
, and
Spain
all claimed
some of the same land in North America!
What happens when everybody wants the
same thing?
This scrambling to claim landpuzzled the
NativeAmericans. Theydidnot think about
buying or owning the land. They believed
the landwas for everyone to use.
This time in history was set for
conflict
in North America. Conflict means to fight
a war because of some disagreement.
European countries thought if they were
first to send settlers to a region, that the
land was theirs. The leaders of European
countriesdidnot thinkabout the feelings of
